


Cold comfort

by Anonymous



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Bad Sex, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dysfunctional Relationships, Explicit Sexual Content, Exploitation, Extremely Dubious Consent, Hux is Not Nice, Implied/Referenced Incest, Implied/Referenced Underage, M/M, Mental Health Issues, POV Alternating, Past Sexual Abuse, Poor Dopheld Mitaka, Rape/Non-con Elements, Unreliable Narrator, Victim Blaming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-05-02 03:33:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14535735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sexual exploitation is par for the course in the First Order. Lieutenant Mitaka does the best he can with what he's been given.More tags to be added as the story progresses.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The non-con tag was chosen because institutional sexual coercion excludes the possibility of consent. No sexual interaction in this story can be considered consensual, regardless of how the participants may react. Please do not read this if you think this topic may distress you.

Worst of all was the mundanity of it; the easy regularity, as if sex were like any other duty Mitaka had been ordered to perform. Collate mission reports, run systems maintenance, spread your legs for the General.

They'd even said as much back in the Academy. The cause of Galactic Order was greater than any individual. There was no part of you, body or soul, that lay beyond its remit, no task too demeaning, no sacrifice too great.

 _Attending the physical needs of your superior officers is a vital and honourable form of service,_ his morale instructor used to say, which Dopheld always thought was a particularly ostentatious way of saying that if a senior officer wanted to fuck you, there wasn't a lot of scope for refusal.

(He'd always hated that bastard, and his terrible stale breath.)

But it had been that or starvation, and as Mitaka stripped off his uniform and crawled onto the bed he took care to remind himself what he had gained. Food, clothes, warmth and purpose. It was more than most of the galaxy had. Besides, only one promotion to go before he could escape this obligation for good.

Hux's quarters were sparse and clean, and usually a degree or two warmer than the rest of the ship; the chill in the air didn't nip at his bare skin in the same way as it did back in his own bunk. At the other side of the room, the General shrugged off his jacket and lay his gloves on the dresser, pouring himself a drink with tired, casual movements.

"Did you prep yourself?" he murmured, without looking at the Lieutenant, his eyes still on the datapad beside the decanter.

"Yes, sir." Mitaka shed his vest and underwear with brisk efficiency, too accustomed to this ritual to feel self-conscious any more. Others had relished in peeling Dopheld's clothing away from his lithe body, or watching him do it for them, but Hux preferred to dispense with foreplay outside of the rare occasions he'd had more than one drink. Sex was little more than a bodily function for him, an easing of pressure for which his Lieutenant's body happened to be the most convenient channel.

Usually he didn't even bother with penetration, and it annoyed Mitaka that Hux had wanted this tonight. He did his best not to let it show. On the positive side, this also meant he could roll over and let the General do most of the work. Neither did he have to pretend that he was enjoying himself.

He let his gaze come to rest on the ceiling, his mind on tomorrow's list of tasks as Hux undressed nearby, laying each item of clothing out atop the dresser, folded and neat.

The slight dip of the mattress as he climbed onto it was Mitaka's cue to turn over and rise onto his hands and knees, thighs spread to give the General easier access. Dopheld took a couple of deep, relaxing breaths and consciously readied himself. Unexpectedly, Hux spoke to him instead.

"On your back please, Lieutenant."

The request surprised him. Hux had always preferred to use him from behind, brusque and impersonal - Dopheld suspected he actually got off on the lack of intimacy - and though he complied automatically, it was difficult to keep the wariness out of his voice as he spoke.

"Yes, sir," he said, then turned over again and brought his knees up and apart to let Hux move between them, tilting his hips to expose himself obediently at the press of the other's hand.

Hux's eyes were low-lidded as he put on the condom and slicked himself up with his usual clinical efficiency. When he was done, he positioned himself and eased inside, gripping his shoulder for leverage. Dopheld's gaze lingered inadvertently on his eyelashes, pale and translucent like the tip of a flame. As Hux glanced up, the brief and abrupt eye contact made Mitaka feel strangely vulnerable, and he looked at the ceiling hurriedly. Hux's gaze slid to the head of the bed, inscrutable and cold.

The first thrust made him wince unexpectedly. If the other man noticed, he paid no heed, only settled into a brisk pace that made the bedsheets chafe lightly against his back. It hurt more than usual, and the burning, stretching sensation between his legs made it difficult to keep his muscles soft. When the next shove of Hux's hips made Dopheld hiss inadvertently with pain, the General stopped.

"You're tense," he complained, with a curt and reprimanding glance. "Do try to relax, Lieutenant."

The look stung, but the way Hux simply averted his eyes and resumed stung more, and Mitaka was too preoccupied with trying to keep himself pliant to try and work out why that was. He felt as if he had failed; worse, he had the deep and sudden impulse to push the General off.

Hux's breathing picked up. After a few more minutes of rutting wordlessly into Dopheld's body, he came with a choked-sounding grunt. His breath smelt subtly of alcohol; when he rested atop Mitaka to recover, the Lieutenant caught a hint of pomade and expensive soap, and the faint salt-and-cloves scent of his semen.

His eyes screwed shut without prompting. Abruptly it felt as if something inside him had reached out and gripped him around the throat. As the General withdrew and sat up, Mitaka gave a shuddering gasp and rolled over onto his side, covering himself with his hands. A crawling, overwhelming emptiness seemed to surge and expand inside his chest, and it took him a moment or two to realize that somewhere in the spinning room around him, Hux was speaking.

"Lieutenant? Are you unwell?"

His tone was less sharp than it had been before. Mitaka tried to answer him, but a sudden pressure behind his eyes made his face crumple into humiliating tears. He pressed a fist against his mouth, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.

After a few moments of attempting to pull himself together and failing, Dopheld felt the weight lift from the mattress, heard the murmur of Hux's words and an answering voice through the comm.

He didn't remember much else after that. A sharp pinch at the top of his arm; a settling warmth in his veins. A slim hand stroking his forehead, which could have been a dream. A sheet being lain over his naked body like a corpse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't kidding when I tagged this with "Hux is not nice".
> 
> Rank structure in the First Order seems uncertain, so I'm faffing it a bit. Imagine a weird mash-up between Royal Navy and British Army, because those are the only ones I really know.

_Brendol had his own office aboard the Retribution. People who did not know Hux tend to assume that he had his father's ear at any time; on the contrary, while most junior officers could get away with simply appearing at the Lieutenant-General's door during a gap in his schedule,_ he _had to make a bloody appointment._

_"What is it, Armitage?"_

_But it was obviously too much to ask that Brendol would ever address him by rank, when they were alone. Still, he remained at attention._

_"I've been assigned Lieutenant Commander Canady on the morale rotation, sir," he said. Brendol didn't look up from his work._

_"I'm aware," he said. "Was there something else?"_

_Hux was momentarily speechless. What could he say? That he'd expected better? That he'd thought being groomed for power had entitled him to escape this horrendous duty? That surely what Brendol had done to him, living as Imperial refugees all those years ago, surely that had been_ enough _? "I'm your son," he managed at last. Brendol gave a subtle scoff._

_"For all the good it's done me," he clipped. "You're dismissed."_

* * *

"It's not uncommon for personnel on morale duty to have some difficulty adjusting, but I can see the Lieutenant has been on this assignment for a while..."

As the doctor spoke, Hux cast another glance at Mitaka's bed through the viewing window. Now asleep, and dressed in a crisp surgical gown, he seemed almost a different person from the sobbing, trembling Lieutenant in his quarters two hours ago.

The display had disturbed and embarrassed Hux in equal measure. He'd left him to the care of the experts, busying himself with reports until he was called in to discuss Mitaka's case.

To Dr Varma's credit, she was as professional and detached as Hux expected; he couldn't abide pointless displays of sympathy or euphemism. "You mentioned you'd had sex with him just prior. Did you notice anything different about his behaviour? Did anything happen that might have spurred this kind of reaction?"

The General kept his gaze on the bright room before them, watched a medtech droid trundle in and take a reading from the monitors. "He was tense, at first," he remarked. "Seemed to be in pain, but only briefly. Aside from that, no different to usual."

Varma looked at her datapad. "There's nothing physically wrong with him," she said. "I can see he's been working long hours recently, so it could just be exhaustion. I'll sign him off for a day or two while our psychiatric team talk to him."

Hux felt a stab of mild annoyance. With Starkiller at a critical point in its construction, _everyone_ was at least a bit exhausted - and he'd never known Mitaka to complain of tiredness. The man was so very professional, which was part of the reason Hux had selected him for this. There were never any expectations of affection or reciprocity with Dopheld, nothing beyond an efficient attention to his needs.

"Has anything happened recently which might have caused him distress?" Varma went on.

The General frowned subtly and thought back over their last interaction. The idea that Dopheld might have been sexually assaulted flashed into his head with an accompanying flash of irritation and, bizarrely, jealousy. He knew reporting that kind of thing was a nightmare - he wasn't an idiot - but as the most powerful man in the fleet, he found Mitaka's potential reticence almost offensive. Did the Lieutenant think so little of him that he'd assume Hux couldn't do anything about it?

This was mere conjecture, though, and it would be useless to get annoyed. Hux shook his head.

"We don't discuss our personal lives," he said.

* * *

_"What, were you saving yourself? Understand this, boy: until you prove yourself capable enough to command - and those bloody teenage soldiers of yours hardly count - what you want is irrelevant. And no amount of running to Rae Sloane will ever make a blind bit of difference to that. So don't even think about wasting her time with this."_

* * *

Incredibly, Hux realized he was worried about his Lieutenant's wellbeing. He told himself it was the possibility of losing a particularly competent officer, since it would never do to get attached.

Still, for reasons he could not quite explain, when he came to return Mitaka's folded uniform to the still-sleeping young officer in his medbay bed, he found himself placing a hand on the man's forehead, just briefly, with the pad of his thumb stroking lines across his brow.


	3. Chapter 3

He was being held down. Not that Dopheld would have struggled anyway, because why would you? Disobeying an Academy instructor was tantamount to walking up and outright asking to be whipped. Except this time the surface of the desk felt unsettlingly soft, and he knew, somehow, that he was supposed to be resting and he'd get in trouble if a Medical officer accidentally walked in.

Mitaka tried to force the words out through the pain, but something - his teacher's hand? - was suffocating him. He couldn't even open his eyes. And after a few moments he realized he was going to drown.

"Lieutenant."

The voice was at first unfamiliar, and inhuman, as if emanating from the stark walls of the medbay itself. Gradually his mind settled again and Dopheld realized he had been dreaming. Was he even supposed to dream? He had the vague impression that the sedatives he'd been given had the side effect of suppressing REM sleep, but perhaps he'd dreamed that too. He rubbed his eyes, ran a hand through his hair.

There was someone in the room with him.

The Lieutenant swallowed a scream and grabbed a handful of hospital gown where a blaster should have been. A dark shape rose from the corner, like a shadow extending itself. Kylo Ren.

"You were having a nightmare," he said. Stunned, Dopheld could only nod. The creature reached up and detached his mask with a hiss.

It was the first time he had seen Kylo's face. Far from the monster Mitaka had expected, Kylo Ren appeared to be a man - a boy, almost. It was hard to tell. There was something young about his face, and sad.

Absent of anything else to say, the Lieutenant swallowed and managed a shaking, "Is there... something I could help you with, Lord Ren?"

Ren gave a small, humourless laugh, his voice low and strangely musical. "You're very dedicated." He stepped toward the bed, and Mitaka felt an uncomfortable prickling over his skin that only intensified when the Knight held out a hand to - to what? Touch his cheek? Dopheld was too frozen to shrink back, and at any rate, it didn't matter. Moments before he would have made contact, Kylo straightened again, and looked toward the door.

"Someone's coming," he said. Mitaka's gaze followed his. He could hear the distant footfalls of the approaching nurse. When he looked back at where Ren had been, there was nothing there.

* * *

Talking to the psychiatric team was largely useless. Any thoughts of harming yourself or others? No. Do you see or experience things that aren't real? No. How's your mood recently? Dopheld had no idea how to answer that one. On a scale of one to ten, the doctor had prompted. Dopheld shrugged internally and made something up. "Five."

_You mentioned this episode took place after intercourse. Do you have a history of sexual trauma? Has something happened recently that might have impeded your ability to serve the General?_

Mitaka thought back to his previous assignments. Edrison Peavey, and Colonel Datoo before him. Captain Ezri, her hands neatening his cadet's uniform in the morning. Then, before that, his instructor. He'd never thought of it as trauma. Nobody had ever held a blaster to his head or dragged him into the dark. And what good would it do to talk about now?

He was tired, that was all. He just needed some sleep.

"No," he said. "Nothing at all."

* * *

Surprisingly, Hux came to visit him after he was discharged. "I feel responsible," he admitted. "I shouldn't have kept going when you were in pain."

"It's fine, sir." Mitaka was sitting at the edge of his bed, feeling incongruously underdressed in the General's presence; loose off-duty trousers, dark vest. Not that he hadn't worn far less around Hux, but the context was different. "You're a busy man. You need the stress relief. You shouldn't need to coddle me."

"Still. If you feel you need more time, I can sign you off for another few shifts."

Hux wasn't looking at him. Dopheld had the strangest sense that the General felt awkward; stranger too was his impulse to reach for the man's hand and reassure him. "I'm fine, sir," he repeated. "Should I come to your quarters at the usual time tonight?"

The other man went still. Mitaka couldn't read his expression. "No. Thank you, Lieutenant, but we can - resume tomorrow, if you feel you're ready. Was there anything else?"

He thought about telling Hux that Kylo Ren had been in to see him, but the whole incident felt so distant, so strange, that Dopheld was half-convinced he'd hallucinated it. "Nothing, sir. Thank you."

That night Mitaka slept fitfully, dreaming that someone was watching him from the corner of the room, but every time he opened his eyes, he found he was alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific warning here for some implied victim-blaming in the dialogue near the end.

"You can't give him what he needs."

Hux paused in the doorway to his office. That intermittent looming shadow in the corner no longer shocked him, although he made a mental note to change the door codes again. "Lord Ren," he replied flatly, as he walked in and flicked on his console. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Lieutenant Mitaka. I felt his pain. It calls to me."

He really did try his best to sound mysterious and otherworldly. The General hadn't even been impressed the first time. "Really. How interesting. Well, he should be out of medbay in a day or two, and I'm sure-"

"I want him assigned to me."

That _did_ give Hux pause. He sat back in his chair and directed a look at the Knight, unimpressed and stark.

"You were offered that kind of assistance before, and you turned it down. If you wish to change your mind, I advise you to submit a request through the proper channels," he said. _Which will promptly be refused, because Mitaka isn't going anywhere,_ he added mentally.

There was a slight pressure behind his eyes, a tickle at the back of his skull. Ah. The Jedi mind trick. Hux took a breath, cleared his mind, imagined a brick wall as he'd been taught. Kylo Ren stood up.

"You will assign him to me, General," he said.

Hux held his gaze. "I don't think so."

They stayed like that for a moment longer - Ren silently pushing, Hux silently resisting - before the pressure let up again, and Kylo Ren swept away. Only then did the General finally allow himself to breathe out, in a long and weary sigh.

* * *

It would help to see Dopheld tonight. The last few days had been stressful, and he'd lacked the energy and the inclination to get himself off since that last disastrous evening. Every time he'd tried, he'd thought of the way Mitaka had curled up shaking on his bed, facing away from Hux as if he were something terrifying.

When the Lieutenant failed to arrive on time, worry invaded his thoughts; had Dopheld taken ill again? Had there been some deeper problem which the medics had missed?

Hux was considering opening a comm channel to him when the door chime finally heralded Mitaka's arrival - in uniform, but looking subtly less well-presented than usual. There was something about the hang of his tunic which suggested it had been pulled on without the care and attention Hux had come to expect from the young officer. Dopheld straightened up after a fraction.

"Sir, I apologize. I worked an early shift; I must have fallen asleep afterwards without realising. It won't happen again."

"You're excused, Lieutenant," Hux found himself saying, though his initial instinct had been to reprimand him; he frowned lightly as he turned away. "Come in." Mitaka followed him, pulling off his gloves and hat as Hux shrugged off his jacket.

Dopheld rarely spoke unless addressed, at times like this. Hux found it easier. At times this service felt like an imposition - sometimes he caught glimpses of boredom or discomfort in Mitaka's expression when he fucked him - and he hardly imagined that his Lieutenant would appreciate an extended conversation, or even some embarrassing parody of seduction before the act.

"Are you well enough for me to penetrate you?" he asked, wincing inwardly at how clinical he sounded. Perhaps Mitaka thought so too, because he paused a little before answering.

"I - believe so, sir. Should I - get on my front?"

"Please." Hux sat on the edge of the bed and stripped off, watching Dopheld out of the corner of his eye, the earnest and slightly fumbling way he shed his boots before seeing to the rest of his uniform. There was something innocent about his movements, about the way he scrambled to obey every order without even trying to look appealing in the process, which elicited a strange fondness inside the older man.

He wondered for a moment whether he should warn Mitaka that Kylo had taken an interest, then thought better of it. It would only worry him. Besides, if Lord Ren really did want to press the issue, to throw protocol out of the airlock and just corner Dopheld somewhere and _insist_ , what could either of them realistically do about it? No - it was far better to maintain the Lieutenant's peace of mind, although the thought of Ren getting his hands on what belonged to Hux ( _belonged?_ ) did leave a sour taste in his mouth.

Hux stood to set his uniform aside as Mitaka did the same. Neither of them attempted to make eye contact. When the Lieutenant slipped onto the bed and assumed a position on all fours, his gaze fixed once more at the opposite wall, Hux hesitated for a moment and then switched off the light, leaving just about enough residual illumination from the emergency lightstrips to locate the relevant supplies in his dresser.

He moved over behind Mitaka, already half-hard with habitual anticipation. He didn't envision this lasting long; he could tell even as he stroked himself into fullness that he wouldn't have much stamina today. His cock felt weighty and a little oversensitive in his palm as he readied it, condom then lube.

The need for some kind of release seemed to ache all the way through his body. Not long now. He'd offload his tension, dismiss the Lieutenant, get a shower, and then, perhaps, he'd finally be able to sleep.

When he eased his cockhead past Mitaka's rim, the pressure was only a partial relief. The younger man was slick inside, but still vice-tight; Hux realized belatedly that he was tense again. "Did you prep?" he murmured in the dark, a little impatiently.

"Yes, sir." Dopheld's voice was quiet and breathless. Hux eased forward, but felt more resistance than there should have been, and the sudden rigidity of the Lieutenant's body was telling.

Abruptly, he pulled out, stood up. "Lights," he clipped, and moved over to the dresser as he rolled the condom off himself again. He could hear Mitaka turning over onto his back behind him, the note of apology in the younger man's voice.

"Sir, I'm sorry," he was saying. "I don't know what-"

"It's fine." It was difficult to keep the frustration out of his voice. Hux gave his hands a quick once-over with alcohol gel and then reached for his decanter, unhooking both glasses from the top. "Do you want a drink?"

He considered offering Mitaka a sedative as well, but having a droid bring something would probably take too long at this time of day. Besides, it reminded him too much of his own first time; he'd never taken physical relief with someone who was drugged, and quite probably it would be impossible to finish.

The Lieutenant didn't answer immediately; Hux glanced back at him as he poured a second measure. "Don't worry about regulations in this case. Just one won't hurt, and it might help you relax. Maker knows we could all use that right about now."

"Thank you, sir." Dopheld sat up, knees folded slightly as if to cover himself. Hux handed the glass off to him, then settled down beside him, downing half his own in one shot.

"Have I hurt you, Lieutenant?" he said abruptly. He sounded more accusatory than he'd meant to, but he wasn't about to apologize. Mitaka looked at him, blinking.

"No, sir. You've been very considerate. It's-"

"Has someone else?"

This time, it took longer for the other man to answer. Hux felt himself tense.

"No, sir," came the eventual reply, careful and quiet. "Nobody's done anything to me that I didn't - sign up for."

Relief led him to offer a rare compliment. "Good. I'm sure you're far too competent to allow that to happen, anyway."

"Thank you, sir." Dopheld's answer was muffled slightly by his drink.

They drank in silence for a while. Eventually, without speaking, Hux took their empty glasses and set them on the table. He switched off the lights, moved over Dopheld's body, fingered him dispassionately until the younger man murmured his readiness and turned onto his front.

Hux held the condom down against the base of his cock, eased himself in without difficulty this time. The heat of his flesh was a welcome comfort. He allowed himself to wrap an arm around the Lieutenant's waist and press down flush against his back as their bodies moved together in the darkness.

Hux felt the tension draining from him when he came, sated tiredness replacing all thought; he rolled off him after a few moments and dropped the used barrier into the waste bin beside his bed, already dangerously close to sleep. In his last moments of awareness he felt Mitaka slip carefully from his side and move to gather his clothes in the dark.


End file.
